Well this one came out of left field! RMZ has announced a new variant, the RMZ-016 Blade Liger Panzer, scheduled for Winter 2025! This Zoid is... exactly what it sounds like- An RMZ Blade Liger with Panzer armor installed. It featured as a primary character in the Zoids Battle Films short (well, sort of, they used an HMM, but still!) and was announced alongside the other armor. The prototype is on display at the venue, and Hobby Watch and AmiAmi have both posted photos. I'm rather curious if this armor will fit the following kit...

 Alongside the Blade Liger Panzer, RMZ also announced a Liger Zero Falcon, scheduled for 2026!! This kit featured as the other key protagonist of the animated short, sporting Liger Zero armor for the rear legs. It seems the RMZ will be fully clad, and will be the first Zero we're getting in the line! It's interesting to start with one of the less popular armors.

 The AM-Z02 Blade Liger is also on display at the venue! The prototype was photographed by Hobby Watch (Yes, same link as earlier~) and a new concept art image was also shown off, featuring the new design! The clear blades are an interesting touch for the prototype, and may imply additional LED gimmicks. It looks rather cute from the front!

 Another update was posted to the Zoids CC/GF Anime section, Volume 8 of the Japanese DVDs. This includes 50+ pieces of concept art from episodes 35 ~ 39 (the start of Guardian Force), with images provided courtesy of Falcarius!

 A few new issues have been added to the Dengeki Hobby Magazine section! This includes February 2005 (Gairyuki concept art, Helcat Grappler custom, some old Mercy Rabbit art, etc.), December 2005 (Murasame Liger Shinobi Custom, Zoids Generations, Zoids Genesis customize part concept art (including their potential combination into a kangaroo Zoid), etc.), and November 2006 (Zoids Generations + customs). In addition, the January 2010 issue, which focused around the HMM Buster Tortoise was reuploaded with new scans that are much less bleached out than the old ones.

 The Japanese Volume 7 DVD info has been added to the Zoids Chaotic Century section! As a reminder, DVDSs are hidden on the 'series info' link in each anime's description. Though this volume included only 25 pieces of concept art, it also included a bunch of commercials. Of particular interest is the Geno Breaker commercial, which was remade recently for the Advanced Zi Geno Breaker model kit!

 A page has been added for Volume 6 (Japanese version) of the Chaotic Century anime. The DVD info is typically found under the 'Series Information' link. This volume contains 71 unique concept arts for the episodes featured on the disc!

 Pre-orders for the first two RMZ kits are up, starting with the RMZ-01 Blade Liger! Bladey here is scheduled for February 2025 for a retail price of 4,950 yen (tax included, about $30 USD.) You can find these on all your typical pre-order sites. AmazonJP, HLJ, AmiAmi, USA Gundam, and more. The official page for this kit (linked above) contains a couple pieces of concept art and a heaping ton of images. Blade Liger will come with effect parts for the Dual Laser Blades. It'll also come with sitting pilot figures of Bang (Van) and Fine (Fiona) as well as a general pilot figure.

 They've also released a video on the RMZ Blade Liger narrated by Bang's VA, detailing its various points of articulation. This stood out as an especially cool video to me. Moveable gimmicks tend to be broad stroked, focusing mostly on a few key poses and the actual equipment. After all, covering all moving pieces would take forever. Seeing a video that puts the articulation itself on display is a breath of fresh air and makes me nostalgic about doing Zoid kit reviews. I look forward to seeing more of these going forward.

 Zoids Waiting Room
 About a month ago they also held a Zoids Waiting Room discussion corner where people involved in the Zoids series got together and talked about the new line. It shows off a lot of stuff, such as staff members interacting with the AZ-07 Death Saurer and size comparisons of the RMZ kits with the traditional motos. Prototypes of the next 3 RMZ Kits, RMZ-003 Command Wolf, RMZ-004 Helcat, and RMZ-005 Molga also get shown off in the video.

- Preview Video

- Zoids Waiting Room

 The next up in this 1/100 scale poseable model kit line is the RMZ-02 Geno Saurer. Scheduled for February 2024 alongside the Blade Liger, its got a retail price of 6,600 yen (about $41 USD.) The Geno Saurer's page has two pieces of colored concept art, comparisons of movable gimmicks to the anime, and a ton of pictures. The kit will come with effect parts for both the Charged Particle Cannon and the Long Range Pulse Laser Rifles. It'll also include a seated Raven figure and a generic pilot figure.

 Honestly, this may be the best-proportioned Geno Saurer we've ever gotten. The poseability of this kit is something else. The joints are so well hidden, and the tail movement in particular looks so fluid with no unsightly gaps. The tail vents are also a neat design, and its good to see this often-forgotten feature included on a smaller scale product. The video is likewise narrated by Raven's VA.

- Preview Video

 Molga was first teased with this diorama image. Well, the kit has now officially been posted on TakaraTomy's website! (Does AZ not have a dedicated page on the TT website?) The page has a piece of concept art and goes over all the new features of this kit. Pre-orders are already up. The kit is scheduled to be released in February 2025 for a retail price of 4,950 yen (about $30 USD.)

 First and most noticeably is that the AZ-08 Molga comes with a brand new piece, the Jamming Horn. This is a part original to Advanced Zi. It is not seen in any other canon. The part itself is based on the osmeterium organs of swallowtail larvae, which release a foul-smelling chemical repellant to ward of predators. The kit also has a surprise motorized function: Forwards and backwards movement. A rotating gear on the back adds an extra detail during movement and the kit has all of the manual gimmicks expected of a Molga.

- Preview Video

 The HMM Guysack is releasing this month, with the OJR version expected to open pre-orders soon as well! Kotobukiya posted a LABO article in celebration, introducing the Guysack and its various details. There'll be a live broadcast (which we'll stick below) just before its release, where they hope to build it in just under an hour. In the article we also get to see the box art, which looks absolutely amazing. There's even an early sketch concept for it, that would've been based on the Tomy box art from back in the day. (There's a lot of Zoids in this box art, and they're all doing something interesting. It's particularly dynamic!)

- Assembly Broadcast

 A small batch of concepts have been uploaded to the New Century /ZERO anime section, courtesy of Kuzann! There's quite a lot more of these to get through but I'm trying to take my time with them to provide as much information as possible. The section has also been updated to match our more recent standards for concept pages (one or two sections haven't been updated yet due to time constraints.) New concepts include:

 Characters: Altair, Armed Guardsman, Ballad Hunter, Benjamin, and Bit Cloud (2 new.)
 Zoids: Hover Cargo

 There's a lot going on this year, and as usual, Mercy Rabbit is enthusiastic about the developments, sharing various works from over the years! Here is a closeup of the Shield Liger Bang HMM art, showing the pilots. There's another showing Irvine from the Command Wolf Irvine box. The classic Murasame Liger art has also been reshared in celebration of the AZ-03 Murasame Liger.

 Throughout the 40th Anniversary Project Animareal has been involved in creating dynamic promotional images to spark the imaginations of fans. Modeler SigemikanZ on Twitter has been sharing quite a few photos of the custom model kits that go into creating these images! As well as others.

 40th Anniversary Key Visual & Logo: Link | Link | Link | Link | Link
 40th Anniversary Key Visual - Blade Liger: Link
 40th Anniversary Key Visual - Liger Zero: Link | Link
 40th Anniversary Key Visual - Murasame Liger: Link | Link | Link
 Additional Customs: Link | Link | Link | Link | Link | Link

 NIKON_LIKE92 on Twitter, who evidently created some of the concept sketches, mosted some of the art for the Gojulas from earlier Zoids products. It's always fun when old employees come out of the wood works to share some of the production materials!

 Episodes 11 ~ 14 have been added to to the Zoids Fuzors section! This includes screencaps, episode summaries, character and Zoid lists, notable facts, and videos showing the difference between the US / DVD release of the show the Japanese / blu-ray release. We're starting to get to the overarching story of this series!

 With the episode update, the Fuzors section has also had a revamp to its Concept Art page, bringing it in line with our newer series pages. Characters, Zoids, Locations, and Assorted concepts all get their own pages, though we don't have any in the last 2 categories (yet). A good number of new concepts have been added, including earlier concepts of Amy (with a different design), Blade, color concepts of RD and Sweet, Arosaurer, Boldguard, Brachio Rex, Dark Spiner, as well as some animation concepts for how the Zoids should move.

 The Dengeki Hobby Magazine section has been updated with scans for the October 2004 and June 2006 issues. This includes some Zoids Generations content, BLOX customs, BLOX Geno Saurer and Shield Liger introduction, Mercy Rabbit art, Rebirth Century customs, artwork, and story, as well as the concept art for Brastle Tiger! I know a lot of people have been wanting to see larger scans of this fierce tiger, so check it out in the 2004 issue! I've also replaced the April 2009 scans with new ones. Many of our magazines were scanned on an old scanner that bleached out almost all colors, and I'm slowly working on replacing them with better ones (save for the HMM Geno Breaker scans, because those stark white claws and teeth just can't be saved.)

 The Concept Art Exhibit has concluded, and I figured I'd go ahead and post some of the images posted on twitter since our last update. So link spammage ahead! Omega Rex's Machine Blast, The Legendary Liger Species, Iron Kong Unit, Omega Rex's Machine Blast (2), Ligers and Tigers, Early Sabertooth, Air Force, and Concept Liger.

 The Concept Art Exhibit is well underway, and man, is there a lot to cover about this. I'll go ahead and start with links to all of the images posted on twitter through official channels since our last update down below. Akiba Souken posted an article with a couple images, and Dengeki Hobby also has an article, with many photos from the venue. GoFA's website also posted a page for tons of merchandise!

 GoFA has also posted their Virtual Gallery, which is currently viewable for free.

 World Exploration 1
 World Exploration 2
 World Exploration 3
 World Exploration 4
 World Exploration 5
 World Exploration 6
 World Exploration 7
 World Exploration 8
 World Exploration 9
 World Exploration 10
 World Exploration 11
 World Exploration 12
 World Exploration 13
 World Exploration 14
 World Exploration 15

 General Overview
 Imachorii's Wild Liger image from the anime title screens.
 General Overview
 Wild Blast Concept
 Vigilante
 Instinct Release
 Forced Release
 Restoration
 Excavation
 Quiz 5
 Death Stinger
 Blade Liger
 Earth
 Death Saurer
 Planet Zi
 Shield Liger MPZ
 Mad Thunder
 Iron Kong